{"id":2795,"date":"2021-04-01T15:09:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T13:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/?p=2795"},"modified":"2024-03-22T18:43:07","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T17:43:07","slug":"top-3-excel-pivot-table-issues-resolved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/top-3-excel-pivot-table-issues-resolved\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/myexcelonline.thinkific.com\/courses\/pivottable-enroll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2844 noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2844 size-large\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Top-5-Pivot-Table-Issues-1024x576.png\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Top-5-Pivot-Table-Issues-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Top-5-Pivot-Table-Issues-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Top-5-Pivot-Table-Issues-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Top-5-Pivot-Table-Issues.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I have shown my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/100-5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Free Pivot Table webinar<\/a> to over 40,000 people over the last couple of years and I continually get the same questions from my webinar attendees regarding the little issues they have when using a Pivot Table.<\/p>\n<p>I want to put <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/101-excel-pivot-tables\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Excel Pivot Table issues<\/a> to bed so you can go out and use a Pivot Table to analyze lots of data and create interactive Dashboards with key business metrics, rather than worry about these small nuances.<\/p>\n\n<p>So in this quick tutorial I will show you how to:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><div class=\"table-of-contents\" id=\"table_of_contents\" ><i class=\"fa fa-arrow-down \" ><\/i>\u00a0<a href=\"#section1\"><strong>Tip 1:<\/strong> Sum rather than Count<\/a><br \/>\n<i class=\"fa fa-filter \" ><\/i>\u00a0<a href=\"#section2\"><strong>Tip 2:<\/strong> Fixed Number Formats<\/a><br \/>\n<i class=\"fa fa-columns \" ><\/i>\u00a0<a href=\"#section3\"><strong>Tip 3:<\/strong> Automatic Refresh<\/a><br \/>\n<\/div><\/p>\n<div id=\"om-frkfeyqnk6w6ywc1jppy-holder\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_57_1 counter-flat ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/top-3-excel-pivot-table-issues-resolved\/#Want_to_know_how_to_create_Excel_Dashboards\" title=\"Want to know how to create Excel Dashboards?\">Want to know how to create Excel Dashboards?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/top-3-excel-pivot-table-issues-resolved\/#EXCEL_FIX\" title=\"EXCEL FIX:\">EXCEL FIX:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Want_to_know_how_to_create_Excel_Dashboards\"><\/span><em><strong>Want to know how to create Excel Dashboards?<\/strong><\/em><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a id=\"section1\"><\/a>#1 SUM RATHER THAN COUNT\u00a0<a href=\"#table_of_contents\"><i class=\"fa fa-arrow-up \" ><\/i><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>The no1 complaint that I get is <em>&#8220;Why do my values show as a Count of rather than a Sumof ?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well, there are three reasons why Pivot Table not counting correctly:<\/p>\n<p>1. There are blank cells in your values column within your data set; or<\/p>\n<p>2.There are &#8220;text&#8221; cells in your values column within your data set; or<\/p>\n<p>3. A <em>Values<\/em> field is Grouped within your Pivot Table.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">1. BLANK\u00a0CELL(S):<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>So if you have at least one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/delete-blank-cells-in-excel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blank cell<\/a> in a Values column, Excel automatically thinks that the whole column is text-based. \u00a0Pretty stupid but that&#8217;s the way it thinks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/blank-cells.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2797\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2797\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/blank-cells.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"676\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/blank-cells.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/blank-cells-300x147.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00a02. TEXT CELL(S):<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Also if you have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/format-cells-special-numbers-excel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cell that is formatted<\/a> as <em>Text\u00a0<\/em>within your <em>Values<\/em> column, then it will also cause it to <em>Count<\/em> rather than <em>Sum<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This usually happens when you download data from your ERP or external system and it throws in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/custom-number-formats-in-excel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">numbers that are formatted<\/a> as text e.g. 382821P<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/TEXT-CELL.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2798\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2798\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/TEXT-CELL.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"658\" height=\"284\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/TEXT-CELL.jpg 658w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/TEXT-CELL-300x129.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 658px) 100vw, 658px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pivot Table not showing correct data and you will get the annoying Count of Sales below:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/count-of-sales.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2800\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2800\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/count-of-sales.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"503\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/count-of-sales.jpg 503w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/count-of-sales-300x287.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 503px) 100vw, 503px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Have a look at the following tutorials that show you how to locate blank cells.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/find-blank-cells-in-excel-with-a-color\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Find Blank Cells In Excel With A Color<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"EXCEL_FIX\"><\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">EXCEL FIX:<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP\u00a01:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>You will need to <strong>enter a value or a zero<\/strong> within this blank or text formatted cell(s)<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 2:<\/strong> <\/span>Go over to your Pivot Table, click on the <em>Count of&#8230;.<\/em>\u00a0 and <strong>drag it out of the <em>Values<\/em> area<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 3:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<strong>Refresh<\/strong> your Pivot Table<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 4:<\/strong><\/span> <strong>Drop in the <em>Values\u00a0<\/em>field (SALES)<\/strong> in the <em>Values<\/em> area once again<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/sum-of-sales-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2834\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2834\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/sum-of-sales-1.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"517\" height=\"444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/sum-of-sales-1.jpg 517w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/sum-of-sales-1-300x258.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">3. GROUPED VALUES:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Let&#8217;s say that you put\u00a0a <em>Values<\/em> field (e.g. Sales) in the Row\/Column Labels and then you Group it.<\/p>\n<p>When you drop in the same <em>Values<\/em> field in the <em>Values<\/em> area, you will also get a<em> Count of&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sales-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2836\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2836\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sales-1.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"603\" height=\"479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sales-1.jpg 603w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sales-1-300x238.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 603px) 100vw, 603px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">EXCEL FIX:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">STEP\u00a01:<\/span><\/strong> Right Click on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/group-dates-with-a-pivot-table\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grouped values in the Pivot Table<\/a> and choose <strong>Ungroup<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ungroup-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2819\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2819\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ungroup-1.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"269\" height=\"442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ungroup-1.jpg 269w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/ungroup-1-183x300.jpg 183w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 269px) 100vw, 269px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 2:<\/strong><\/span> <strong>Drag the <em>Count of SALES<\/em> out<\/strong> of the Values area and let go to remove it<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 3:<\/strong><\/span> <strong>Drop in the SALES field<\/strong> in the Values area once again<\/p>\n<p>It\u00a0will now show a <em>Sum of SALES<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sum-of.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2821\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2821\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sum-of.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"675\" height=\"481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sum-of.jpg 675w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/grouped-sum-of-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>N.B<\/strong>. Sometimes you will need to locate the Pivot Table that has the Grouped values. \u00a0The SALES field may not be evident that it is Grouped, especially if it is not selected in the Row\/Column labels.<\/p>\n<p>You may need to drag and drop this field from the <em>PivotTable Fields<\/em> and into the Row\/Column Labels area to confirm that it is Grouped.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/myexcelonline.thinkific.com\/courses\/pivottable-enroll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1080 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/728x90.gif\" alt=\"728x90\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a id=\"section2\"><\/a>#2 FIXED\u00a0NUMBER FORMATS\u00a0<a href=\"#table_of_contents\"><i class=\"fa fa-arrow-up \" ><\/i><\/a><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The no.2 request\u00a0that I get is <em>&#8220;Is there a way to have predetermined value formatting in the Pivot Table so we do not have to always format the values each time we create a Pivot Table?&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well YES there is&#8230;sort of!<\/p>\n<p>When you create a new Pivot Table it will always format the cells without any commas or decimal points, which is very hard to read, especially if you have positive and negative numbers that go into the millions.<\/p>\n<p>Here I show you how to overcome Pivot Table Issues:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/default-number-format.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2805\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2805\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/default-number-format.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"411\" height=\"304\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/default-number-format.jpg 411w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/default-number-format-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 411px) 100vw, 411px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">EXCEL FIX:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 1:<\/strong><\/span> Click inside your Pivot Table and go to <em><strong>PivotTAble Tools &gt; Analyze\/Options &gt; Select &gt; Entire Pivot Table<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-entire-pivot-table.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2807\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2807\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-entire-pivot-table.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"394\" height=\"265\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-entire-pivot-table.jpg 394w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-entire-pivot-table-300x202.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 394px) 100vw, 394px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 2:<\/strong> <\/span>Go back into PivotTable Tools &gt; Analyze\/Options &gt; Select and this time choose the<strong> Values <\/strong>option<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-values.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2808\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2808\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-values.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"388\" height=\"258\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-values.jpg 388w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/select-values-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 3:<\/strong><\/span> Press <strong>CTRL+1<\/strong> which will bring up the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/ctrl-1-format-cells\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Format Cells<\/a><\/strong> dialogue box<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-pops-up.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2809\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2809\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-pops-up.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"649\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-pops-up.jpg 649w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-pops-up-300x220.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 4:<\/strong> <\/span>Choose the <strong>Number<\/strong> category and<strong> select the format that you want<\/strong>, then press <strong>OK<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-format.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2810\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2810\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-format.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"525\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-format.jpg 525w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/format-cells-format-300x263.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Your Pivot Table is now formatted!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/formatted-pivot-table.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2811\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2811\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/formatted-pivot-table.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"434\" height=\"306\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/formatted-pivot-table.jpg 434w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/formatted-pivot-table-300x212.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 434px) 100vw, 434px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can now drop in more Values fields (like TRANSACTIONS numbers) in the Values area and it will also keep the same formatting:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/PIVOT-FORMATTED-2.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2812\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2812\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/PIVOT-FORMATTED-2.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"362\" height=\"322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/PIVOT-FORMATTED-2.jpg 362w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/PIVOT-FORMATTED-2-300x267.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also\u00a0copy and paste this Pivot Table and rearrange it and the formatting will still be kept!<\/p>\n<p>Cool hey.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a id=\"section3\"><\/a>#3 AUTOMATIC REFRESH\u00a0<a href=\"#table_of_contents\"><i class=\"fa fa-arrow-up \" ><\/i><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Refreshing a Pivot Table can be tricky for some users.<\/p>\n<p>People forget that each time your data source gets updated that you will also need to Refresh your Pivot Table in order for it to get updated and reflect the changes.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of people ask if there is a way to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/automatically-refresh-pivot-table-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">automatically Refresh a Pivot Table<\/a>, which I totally get.<\/p>\n<p>Here I show you a couple of ways that you can fix these pivot table problems.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00a01. REFRESH PIVOT TABLE UPON OPENING:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>This is a great feature and one that most people don&#8217;t know about.<\/p>\n<p>It allows you to Refresh your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/learn-the-power-of-excel-pivot-tables\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pivot Tables as soon as you open up your Excel<\/a> workbook.<\/p>\n<p>This is great if your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/prepare-data-for-pivot-tables\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pivot Table&#8217;s data<\/a> is linked to another workbook that gets updates by your colleagues and you only get to see the Pivot Table report. Otherwise, they may think that the Pivot Table not working.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">EXCEL FIX:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 1:<\/strong><\/span> Right Click in your Pivot Table and choose <strong>Pivot Table Options<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/pivot-table-options.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2824\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2824\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/pivot-table-options.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"250\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/pivot-table-options.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/pivot-table-options-174x300.jpg 174w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 2:<\/strong> <\/span>Select the <strong>Data<\/strong> tab and<strong> check the &#8220;Refresh data when opening the file&#8221;<\/strong> checkbox and <strong>OK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/aUTOMATIC-rEFRESH-1.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2826\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2826\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/aUTOMATIC-rEFRESH-1.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"456\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/aUTOMATIC-rEFRESH-1.jpg 456w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/aUTOMATIC-rEFRESH-1-290x300.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 456px) 100vw, 456px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now each morning that you open up your Excel workbook, you can be sure that the Pivot Table is refreshed!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u00a02. AUTOMATIC REFRESH EVERY X MINUTES:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If you have your data set linked in an external data source, you can auto-refresh every x minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Your data can be stored in an external data source such as Access, a Website, SQL Server, Azure Marketplace etc<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/external-data.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2828\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2828\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/external-data.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"450\" height=\"120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/external-data.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/external-data-300x80.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">EXCEL FIX:<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 1:<\/strong> <\/span>If your data is stored externally, you will need to <strong>click in your Pivot Table<\/strong> and go to <strong>Properties<\/strong> (this will only be enabled for selection if you have an external data source)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/properties.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2829\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2829\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/properties.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"157\" height=\"134\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>STEP 2:<\/strong><\/span> This will open up the<strong> Connection Properties<\/strong> and you will need to select the<strong><em> Refresh every<\/em> <\/strong>checkbox and<strong> manually set the time &amp; press OK.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/connection-properties.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-2831\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2831\" title=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/connection-properties.jpg\" alt=\"Top 3 Excel Pivot Table Issues Resolved\" width=\"413\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/connection-properties.jpg 413w, https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/connection-properties-231x300.jpg 231w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can now sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee whilst your Pivot Table gets\u00a0updated every few minutes:)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Further Learning:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/unleashing-the-power-of-pivot-tables-in-excel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unleashing the Power of Pivot Tables in Excel: A Practical Guide<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/pivot-cache-explained\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Excel Pivot Cache Explained<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/show-hide-field-headers-in-pivot-table\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Show\/Hide Field Headers in Excel Pivot Tables<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I hope that you enjoyed this article and can now get over these little nuances and spend your valuable time where it is needed, analyzing your data &amp; making insightful reports with your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/blog\/free-microsoft-excel-online-course\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pivot Table<\/a> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>Feel free to comment below and let me know what Pivot Table issues\u00a0you have and I will resolve them for you.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/100.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2964 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/728x90.gif\" alt=\"PIVOT BANNER\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Make sure to download our FREE PDF on the<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/app.monstercampaigns.com\/c\/czseo0viyrmspcx5ndve\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">\u00a0333 Excel keyboard Shortcuts here<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/myexcelonline.thinkific.com\/courses\/pivottable-enroll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1080 noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1080 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/728x90.gif\" alt=\"728x90\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" title=\"\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have shown my Free Pivot Table webinar to over 40,000 people over the last couple of years and I continually get the same questions from my webinar attendees regarding the little issues they have when using a Pivot Table. I want to put Excel Pivot Table issues to bed so you can go out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cos_headline_score":0,"cos_seo_score":0,"cos_headline_text":"","cos_headline_has_been_analyzed":false,"cos_last_analyzed_headline":[],"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,42],"tags":[86],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myexcelonline.com\/meo-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}